It is known to provide a fishhook with a guard member to reduce the risk of the hook getting snagged by weeds or other submerged vegetation. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,586,162 and 2,917,860 disclose fishhooks comprising a single hook with a weed guard which shields the point of the hook. When the fish strikes, the weed guard is displaced, allowing the hook to snare the fish.
It is desirable for a fishhook to have more than one hook to increase the likelihood of catching the fish. Canadian patents Nos. 69,081, 80,747, 230,171, 1,045,380 and 2,076,957, for example, disclose fishhooks comprising two opposed hooks which are held in a "closed" position until the fish strikes. Once the fish has struck, the hooks are urged apart inside the fish's mouth, at least partly due to the force applied to the fishing line. A weedless or snagfree construction can be achieved by opposing the two hooks so that, in the closed position, the point of each hook is shielded by a part of the other hook.
The likelihood of catching a fish may also be enhanced by the use of lures, such as pieces of highly reflective and/or brightly coloured pieces of metal or plastics material combined with the hook. In view of the cost, it is even more desirable to ensure that they are not lost in weeds. Thus, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,419,295 and 3,019,544 disclose "weedfree" fishing lures. The fishing lure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,419,295 comprises a solid body of wood or plastic with a pair of opposed hooks attached to it. The shank of one hook is fixed to the body so that the hook protrudes beyond the end of the body. The other hook is pivotally attached and normally held away from the first hook by the combined effect of a small weight and a spring. In this position, the point of each hook is shielded by the curved portion of the shank of the other hook. As the mouth of the fish closes onto the shanks, the two hooks are urged apart and snag the fish. This device is not entirely satisfactory because it has only two hooks which are not readily detachable for use with a different lure member.
The fishing lure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,019,544 comprises a so-called "spoon" lure member which has a ring at one end for attachment to the fishing line. Two hooks are mounted to one end of a leaf spring, the other end of which is clipped into a bracket which is fastened to the spoon. The bracket is configured so that the spring arm is angled away from the spoon. The hooks curve away from each other but towards the spoon. Their points lie in respective notches in the end of the spoon and are urged into the notches by the spring action. With a view to avoiding undue delay in fleeing the hook from the mouth of the fish, which could allow a passing shoal of fish to get out of range before the angler makes his next cast, the leaf spring is releasably locked to the spoon allowing the leaf spring and hook to be released quickly and another leaf spring and hook attached to the spoon. This device is not entirely satisfactory because attachment of the leaf spring to the spoon is complicated, involving slots in the bracket both to embrace a waisted part of the leaf spring and to allow one end of the leaf spring to abut the spoon. The waisted part is formed by tapering in two dimensions, which is difficult. Moreover, the configuration is unsuitable for use with soft flexible lures and has only two hooks.
It is possible to construct a "weedless" fishhook with more than two hooks. U.S. Pat. No. 3,727,340 discloses a fishhook with two pairs of such opposed hooks, at right angles to each other, thus providing a weedless fishhook with four hooks, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,384,426 discloses weedless fishhooks with either three hooks in a triangular array or four hooks in a rectangular array. Neither of these fishhooks can readily be used with a lure, however, and they are relatively complicated and expensive to make.